Destiny 2 Weekend Update – August 23, 2019

As summer winds down, so too does the Solstice of Heroes in Destiny 2. To be honest, I thought I was done with the game until Shadowkeep. I’ve got my MMXIX title and getting Raid armor seems pointless when Armor 2.0 is so close. But then Bungie goes and announces this Community Challenge and pulls me back in. See you on Mars next week! In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know about Destiny 2 this weekend.

Destiny 2 Weekly Reset – Week of August 20 2019

With another weekly reset comes the regular rotation of activities:

This week’s Flashpoint is on the Tangled Shore

Nightfalls are The Corrupted, Tree of Probabilities, and Exodus Crash

The Strike Singe element is Solar

The featured Crucible playlist is Showdown

The Dreaming City curse is in phase two

The Menagerie boss is Pagouri, Vex Hydra

The Reckoning boss is The Swords

The Escalation Protocol boss is Damkath, the Mask

Solstice of Heroes Ending Soon

The Solstice of Heroes ends on the next weekly reset — Tuesday, August 27. If you don’t already have a suit of Majestic Solstice armor, get to grinding! You’ll still be able to Masterwork your set after the event ends, but as you’ll get a 2.0 version when Shadowkeep arrives, it might not be worth the hassle.

Destiny 2 Cross Save Goes Live (plus Steam Link)

Cross Save is here, baby! Here’s to finally being able to play Destiny with all my PC friends. Head over to Bungie’s Cross Save page to get started. Oh, and if you are playing on PC, you’ll want to set up to migrate from Battle.net over to Steam. Check out our guide to learn how:

Destiny 2 Community Challenge

To build anticipation for the Hive-focused Shadowkeep, Bungie has laid down a challenge for the Destiny 2 player base. It involves killing a lot — and I mean a lot — of Hive on Mars. If we can pull it off in September, everyone who’s done at least one Nightfall that week will get a slick new banner. Plus, Calus will jack up the rewards for the Menagerie. For all the details:

Xur Inventory and Location — August 23 2019

This weekend, you can find Xur on Calus’s Barge on Nessus. In addition to his Isochronal Engram and Invitation of the Nine (if you haven’t yet completed them), he’s offering the Arbalest, Shinobu’s Vow, Crown of Tempests, and Ashen Wake.

Arbalest is an Exotic Kinetic Fusion Rifle. Originally a reward for the Revelry seasonal event, it’s now in the general Exotics pool. I don’t use it a lot, but it can be incredibly potent in the right circumstances due to its Compounding Force and Disruption Break abilities. Together, these perks allow Arbalest to easily break enemy shields and also render them more vulnerable to Kinetic damage. It’s a must in any situation where you’re faced with otherwise weak enemies with huge shields, like the Outbreak Perfected quest.

Shinobu’s Vow are Hunter Exotic Gauntlets. They improve your Skip Grenades, granting you an extra charge and refunding energy on hits. They’re not bad, exactly, but Hunters are so spoiled for choice that it’s hard to justify running this over Dragon’s Shadow, St0mp-EE5, or Lucky pants in PVP or Shards of Galanor/Celestial Nighthawk in PVE.

Crown of Tempests is an Exotic Warlock Hood. When equipped, all your Arc ability kills increase their recharge rates, and kills during Stormtrance extend its length. If you’re a Stormcaller, this is basically mandatory. Pair it with Arc Webs for a lot of fun.

Ashen Wake are Titan Exotic Gauntlets. They improve the throwing speed of Fusion Grenades and cause them to explode on impact. Maybe fun to play around with, but basically useless.

Destiny 2 Ascendant Challenge — August 20 2019

This Ascendant Challenge is found in the Spine of Keres section of the map. Head towards the Oracle by leaving the initial spawn location and hanging a left at the massive door that leads to the Blind Well. Follow the cliff pathway all the way around until you reach a bridge. This leads to the Oracle location.

Once on the bridge, face right and look towards the open area. If you’ve become ascendant (by drinking the Tincture of Queensfoil) an invisible platform should appear before you. Hop onto it to reveal another platform — then another and another. Follow the platforms until you reach solid ground. Traverse the islands until you find the portal on the right-hand side of this new area.

Inside the challenge, you basically just have to climb. The challenge here is to not fall while the Taken try to deter you with boop-walls (swirling holes that periodically blast you off) or bomb blights. Just traverse the area slowly but surely, making your way to the top.

Once at the top, jump into the hole in the ceiling. You’ll encounter a Taken Phalanx boss. Kill it to finish the challenge.